Mont Blanc Plane Wreckage Yields Jewels for Lucky Climbers
A young climber in the French Alps stumbled over a treasure trove of precious stones that are thought to have been lost after a plane crash more than 50 years ago.
The chief commandant of the national police of Albertville, France, revealed that about a hundred small, precious stones were recovered from a metallic box in the ice caps known as Bossons.
Commandant Sylvain Merly said the precious stones were separated in plastic bags that were stamped "Made in India."
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"The young climber immediately understood that the precious stones had belonged to someone who died on the ice … He could have kept them for himself but instead he chose to bring them to us," Merly told NBC.
Conservative estimates from jewelers in the area put the value of the jewels between $175,000 and $325,000.
The diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and rubies are believed to have come from one of two Air India planes that crashed in the French Alps in 1950 and 1966.
It has been reported that the jewels are thought to have come from an Air India flight from Bombay to New York that crashed on 24 January 1966.
Police in Bourg Saint Maurice believe that this is the flight that they originated from, the Italian newspaper La Stampa reported.
However, 15 years earlier in November of 1950, the Malabar Princess crashed in a nearby spot on the mountain. The Costellation flight was pulverized when it went down during a snowstorm.
The climber who found the jewels has decided to remain anonymous. French authorities must now contact their Indian peers to try to find the owners of the jewels. If no one claims the gems, they will be returned to the young mountain climber.
